Double Vision (2002)

Absolutely Fantastic

The first must-see film of the year.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

DOUBLE VISION (Shuang Tong) Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)Sound formats: Dolby Digital / SDDSFollowing a series of murders in which the victims died under mysterious circumstances (one drowns on the top floor of an office complex, another is disembowelled in his sleep, etc.), Taiwanese police engage the services of an FBI agent (David Morse) who joins forces with a disgraced cop (Tony Leung Ka-fai) and traces the clues back to a murderous religious sect...Produced by the Asian wing of Columbia Pictures, DOUBLE VISION is a beautifully-made bore. With its moody visuals and stately pace, Chen Kuo-fo's torturous film aspires to something more upmarket than your average 'slasher' movie, and the results are pretty mixed, to say the least: Too 'arty' for the multiplex crowd, and too commercial for Art-house audiences, DOUBLE VISION swaps atmosphere for action at almost every turn, save for a violent massacre toward the end of the film and a confusing climax which suggests a supernatural explanation for the murders before going off in a different direction altogether. In fact, Chen's kid-glove treatment of the established 'serial killer' formula - a series of outrageous crimes, followed by an investigation in which an assortment of details lead to a final confrontation with the killer - suggests an aversion to the material that extends all the way down to the murders themselves, few of which are especially graphic, except for a couple of CGI-enhanced eruptions early in the movie, and the narrative suffers accordingly.On the plus side, Morse and Leung (not to be confused with Tony Leung Chiu-wai, star of Wong Kar-wai's HAPPY TOGETHER) are well-matched as cops from opposite sides of the world, forced to set aside their cultural differences in order to track the killer to his/her lair. Morse is OK, as usual, but Leung has the showier role, playing an honest man whose life is in turmoil following a recent tragedy in which his young daughter was taken hostage by an officer whom Leung had accused of corruption. Rene Liu (FLEEING BY NIGHT) plays Leung's wife, a lost soul struggling to cope with the fall-out from her husband's guilty conscience. Grim stuff, in every sense of the word. The uncensored director's cut - available on DVD in Asia - adds more gore to the proceedings, but little else. Gorgeous production values, expansive widescreen compositions and a busy soundtrack aside, the movie is a wash-out.(Mandarin and English dialogue)

DOUBLE VISION is quite a good movie for its first 2 acts, but all of that goes out the window when a brutal massacre scene pops up to signal a shift to a bloody third act. The movie works as a psychological thriller, a film about cops chasing a killer who may or may not be supernatural, but it falls flat when the answer is given, and the answer proves to be wholly silly.David Morse gives a good performance as an American FBI agent befuddled by the political climate of a Taiwanese police force that asked for his help. Tony Leung is outstanding as a cop whose family has left him. The two men work well together.Of note is the film's delving into Taoism, which really takes up a lot of the movie's time, but seems to have little reason to do so. Nothing the character learns actually affects how the case is eventually solved, so the endless talks about Toaism seems like an advertising for Taoism, but nothing more.6 out of 10(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie or full-length reviews of other foreign films)

When Edgar Allan Poe wrote Rue Morgue and other Dupin stories, he is said to have created two branches of the detective-novel: the sensational and the deductive. Trying to reconcile elements of the detective with the supernatural the way traditional Taiwan has married Westernization, DOUBLE VISION--quite the adequate title--is a hybrid worth watching for its bastardy. The detective part suffers when the movie ventures into the supernatural, and the former has holes of its own without the latter. However, once you've taken the Red Pill and bought the protagonist's story about his daughter, these holes in logic somewhat become intrinsic to elements of the supernatural, and the unexplained becomes the unexplainable that is plainly accepted. This fallacy grows on the film like the hallucinatory mold the plot revolves around, and DOUBLE VISION gains dreamy and poetic dimensions. Undoubtedly, this is not the deductive type of mystery--the cancer of sensationalism is as terminal as a brain tumor better left not operated: it is the entire charm of the movie.

A Perfect cast in an Evil Intention Plot ThrillerWith Double Vision, multi-talented director Chen Kuo-fu pierces the evil of the unexpected whereby he has taken a typical corny Hollywood story line, infused it with millennia-old Chinese mystical beliefs and placed it in the sweat soaked, politically charged atmosphere of 21st -century Taiwan. This thriller is about a troubled police detective Huang Huo-to (Tony Leung Ka Fai) whose is about to suffer from a severe mental breakdown as his life is falling apart. The reason for this is as payback for blowing the whistle on corruption in the force. He's then relegated to a do-nothing job as a Foreign Affairs Officer. His fellow policemen colleagues have turned on him and his wife Ching-fan (Rene Liu) is filing for divorce. Then suddenly three grisly murders shake up the department. The victims are unrelated but the coroner (Yang Kuei Mei) finds a mysterious black fungus in their brains, along with evidence that they had all died in a hallucinatory state. Clearly there is a serial killer on the loose, but the first in Taiwan's history whereby the police are unequipped to handle the case. With the public on the verge of panic, the high command of the Republic grudgingly calls on the United States for assistance. The FBI comes into the picture and sends its top expert, Kevin Richter (David Morse) to help Huang to wrestle these mysterious cases. The suspenseful ride is now on..... sit tight!Besides its suspense and thrills that you would find in this movie, the perfect cast of Double Vision is also worth a mention. Tony Leung who shot to international stardom in the box-office hit The Lover, plays a demanding role as well as the main foundation bearer of the movie. His role is certainly worth a nomination in the Best Actor category in the coming Film Awards in Taiwan and Hong Kong. As for the graceful, azure-eyed David Morse who is in his debut Asian Film, plays a FBI agent who is sympathetic as well as a lovable character. As for the supporting cast, each and everyone is also a heavyweight in the Taiwanese film industry like Rene Liu, Lung Sihung, Leon Dai Li Ren and Yang Kuei Mei. Therefore it is a perfect cast in an almost perfect movie.Working with Oscar-winning production and costume designer Tim Yip of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame and Arthur Wong, one of Hong Kong's great cinematographers, director Chen Kuo-fu takes danger and suspense to a new level of dimension. In fact, just making the film is a venture into a new territory. Double Vision is a very brave effort indeed for a Asian production. It would also open a few eyes of the Hollywood producers on Chen's credibility as well as catapult him to the ranks in the likes of Ang Lee or John Woo.